Description: A number of incidents of artillery firing on Union steamers
passing up and down the Mississippi River at Donaldsonville influenced
the U.S. Navy to undertake a retaliatory attack. Rear Adm. David G. Farragut
sent the town notice of his intentions and suggested that the citizens
send the women and children away. He then anchored in front of the town
and fired upon it with guns and mortars. Farragut also sent a detachment
ashore that set fire to the hotels, wharf buildings, and the dwelling houses
and other buildings of Capt. Phillippe Landry. Landry, thought to be the
captain of the partisan unit, purportedly fired on the landing party during
the raid. Some citizens protested the raid, but, generally, firing on Union
ships ceased thereafter.